{{Note|This will be effective for every application used under a graphic server.}}

{{Note|This will be effective for every application used under a graphic server.}}

+

+

=== Plugins don't work with latest version ===

+

+

Due to Arch's bleeding edge nature, there can be some compatility issues with plugins not working with the latest Firefox install (ie [http://5digits.org/pentadactyl/index Pentadactyl]). If possible, try installing the nightly/beta builds available, or see [[Downgrading Packages]].

Performance

Improving Firefox's performance is divided into parameters that can be inputted while running Firefox or otherwise modifying its configuration as intended by the developers, and advanced procedures that involve foreign programs or scripts.

Turn off anti-phishing

Note: Deleting files from your profile folder is potentially dangerous, so it is recommended that you back it up first.

The anti-phishing features of Firefox may cause Firefox to become slow to start or exit. The problem is that Firefox maintains an Sqlite database that can grow quite big which makes reading and writing slower after repeated use. If you feel that you do not need Firefox to tell you which sites may be suspect you can disable this feature:

Turn off the following options under the security tab in preferences: "Block reported attack sites" and "Block reported web forgeries".

Some of these files might be recreated by Firefox, but they won't grow any larger than their initial size.

Stop urlclassifier3.sqlite from being created again

If you did remove all the urlclassifier* files as mentioned above, you may find out that urlclassifier3.sqlite keeps growing again after a certain time. Here is a simple solution to avoid it for now and ever.

This effectively makes the file empty and then read-only so Firefox cannot write to it anymore.

Other modifications

This section contains some other modifications that may increase Firefox's performance.

Reduce load time by compressing the Firefox binary with UPX

UPX is an executable packer that supports very fast decompression and induces no memory overhead. It can be installed with the upx package, availalble in the official repositories.

Before using upx to compress the Firefox executable, make a backup of the binary:

# cp /usr/lib/firefox/firefox /usr/lib/firefox/firefox.backup

Finally, invoke upx, applying the best possible compression level:

# upx --best /usr/lib/firefox/firefox

Defragment the profile's SQLite databases

Warning: This procedure may damage the databases in such a way that sessions are not saved properly.

In Firefox 3.0, bookmarks, history, passwords are kept in an SQLite databases. SQLite databases become fragmented over time and empty spaces appear all around. But, since there are no managing processes checking and optimizing the database, these factors eventually result in a performance hit. A good way to improve start-up and some other bookmarks and history related tasks is to defragment and trim unused space from these databases.

Cache the entire profile into RAM via tmpfs

Appearance

Fonts

Configure the DPI value

Modifying the following value can help improve the way fonts looks in Firefox if the system's DPI is below 96. Firefox, by default, uses 96 and only uses the system's DPI if it is a higher value. To force the system's DPI regardless of its value, type about:config into the address bar and set layout.css.dpi to 0.

Note that the above method only affects the Firefox user interface's DPI settings. Web page contents still use a DPI value of 96, which may look ugly or, in the case of high-resolution displays, may be rendered too small to read. A solution is to change layout.css.devPixelsPerPx to system's DPI divided by 96. For example, if your system's DPI is 144, then the value to add is 144/96 = 1.5. Changing layout.css.devPixelsPerPx to 1.5 makes web page contents use a DPI of 144, which looks much better.

Default font settings from Microsoft Windows

Below are the default font preferences when Firefox is installed in Microsoft Windows. Many web sites use the Microsoft fonts.

General user interface CSS settings

Firefox's user interface can be modified by editing the userChrome.css and userContent.css files in ~/.mozilla/firefox/<profile_dir>/chrome/ (profile_dir is of the form hash.name, where the hash is an 8 character, seemingly random string and the profile name is usually default).

Note: The chrome/ folder and userChrome.css/userContent.css files may not necessarily exist, so you have to create them.

This section only deals with the userChrome.css file which modifies Firefox's user interface, and not web pages.

Change the font

The setting effectively overrides the global GTK+ font preferences, and does not affect webpages, only the user interface itself:

~/.mozilla/firefox/<profile_dir>/chrome/userChrome.css

* {
font-family: "FONT_NAME";
}

Hide button icons

Enables text-only buttons:

~/.mozilla/firefox/<profile_dir>/chrome/userChrome.css

.button-box .button-icon {
display: none;
}

Hiding various tab buttons

These settings hide the arrows that appear to the horizontal edges of the tab bar, the button that toggles the "all tabs" drop-down list, and the plus sign button that creates a new tab.

Change the order of search engines in the Firefox Search Bar

Open the drop-down list of search engines and click Manage Search Engines... entry.

Highlight the engine you want to move and use Move Up or Move Down to move it. Alternatively, you can use drag-and-drop.

How to open a *.doc automatically with Abiword or LibreOffice Writer

Go to Preferences > Applications and search for Word Document (or Word 2007 Document for *.docx). After finding it, click the drop-down list and select Use other.... From there you have to specify the exact path to the Abiword or Writer executable (i.e./usr/bin/abiword or /usr/bin/lowriter).

"I'm Feeling Lucky" mode

Some search engines have a feeling lucky feature. For example Google has "I'm Feeling Lucky" and DuckDuckGo has "I'm Feeling Ducky".

To activate them:

Type about:config in the address bar.

Search for the string keyword.url.

Modify its value (if any) to the URL of the search engine.

For Google, set it to:

http://www.google.com/search?btnI=I%27m+Feeling+Lucky&q=

For DuckDuckGo, set it to:

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=\

For Google Encrypted (RCA-4 128bit High security encyption), set it to:

https://encrypted.google.com/search?btnI=I%27m+Feeling+Lucky&q=

Secure DNS with DNSSEC validator

Adding magnet protocol association

In about:config set network.protocol-handler.expose.magnet to false.

The next time you open a magnet link, you will be prompted with a Launch Application dialogue. From there simply select your chosen torrent client. This technique can also be used with other protocols.

Note: This will be effective for every application used under a graphic server.

Plugins don't work with latest version

Due to Arch's bleeding edge nature, there can be some compatility issues with plugins not working with the latest Firefox install (ie Pentadactyl). If possible, try installing the nightly/beta builds available, or see Downgrading Packages.